Study Says No Increase in Apartment Rates
LA Downtown News
Downtown apartment rates will dip slightly, or remain flat, over the next two years.
So says the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, which last week released its Casden Forecast Multifamily Market Report. The study, presented on April 6 at the Downtown Marriott, said that the Central City saw a 6.8% increase in average rents in 2010, up to $1,767 per month. That would make Downtown an outlier, as most L.A. submarkets saw a drop in rent or were flat last year, according to the report. Downtown's price increase contradicts other reports that indicate that rents fell in the area during 2010, as Downtown added 1,014 new apartments. The increase in supply would typically drag down rents, so the report's finding of a 6.8% increase is "rather anomalous," acknowledged Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center.